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Akaashi’s schedule is like this: On Mondays, he has volleyball practice in the morning, then school, more volleyball practice in the evening, reject Bokuto’s pleas for more extra practice because he has to cram a few subjects and he would like to pass his classes with grades that are slightly above average, thank you very much, and he’ll pick up a novel he left off before he goes to bed.
On Tuesdays, he has volleyball practice in the morning, then school, more volleyball practice in the evening, more rejecting Bokuto because it’s a Tuesday and he has violin lessons, and he’ll pick up a novel he left off before he goes to bed.
On Wednesdays, he has volleyball practice in the morning, then school, more volleyball practice in the evening, then - finally - Bokuto gets his extra practice and then he’ll pick up a novel he left off before he goes to bed.
On Thursdays, he has volleyball practice in the morning, then school, and today he’ll skip evening volleyball practice to study his science subjects and then he’ll pick up a novel he left off before he goes to bed.
On Fridays, he skips volleyball practice in the morning to sleep in a bit, then school and then he goes for volleyball practice in the evening and he’ll go back home with the third years to his house for their weekly group study session. Akaashi never understands why he has to do it with him, at his house; they aren’t even in the same grade. But Akaashi looks up to his senpais, so he obliges.
It’s Friday and they’re in the clubroom, shrugging on their jackets and they turn to leave together - him, Sarukui, Komi, Bokuto and Konoha.
In the train, Akaashi pulls out his iPad and they watch the recent volleyball game; a game between the Japan national team and Brazil. They’re a bit too loud for the train packed with exhausted office workers and students, but they can’t bring themselves to care. Not when Japan's outside hitter spikes a ball so hard it causes the whole gym to turn silent as the sound of the impact echoes. They’re cheering so loudly and they can’t bring themselves to care even if a few glares are thrown at them.
Konoha’s lost in his iPod, scrolling idly on the device, earphones in his ears and he steals a glance every now and then but other than that, he looks completely exhausted. Akaashi doesn’t bring himself to ask because he knows, Konoha has complained about what has been bothering him the whole week.
“I hate my group mates, do you know that they keep falling asleep on me and they never do their parts? I ended up doing and cramping everything and now I’m so fucking upset because the assignment looked like shit and Tsukuru-sensei is giving me a bad grade. I told him it wasn’t my fault but he won’t listen! And then my group mates had the audacity to blame me those motherfuckers!” Konoha said at lunch time, eye bags prominent and dark. The rest of the team pat him on the back and let him sleep a little during practice.
They arrive at the Akaashi residence a little early since Bokuto let them leave early. They greet Akaashi’s parents and run straight to Akaashi’s neat room and take their respective positions.
Akaashi will sit on the bed, Saru at his study table, Konoha, Komi and Bokuto sprawled on the floor.
However, today, Akaashi felt like doing something nice to his senpai so when he told him, “Konoha-san, you can sleep on my bed, if you like,” all heads turned to him, giving him an impressed look.
“You’re letting Konoha on your bed?” Komi says, eyebrows raised.
“Konoha-san is obviously exhausted.”
“I always come back here feeling dead, you never let me sleep on your bed!” Bokuto retorts, crossing his arms and pouting.
“That’s because you’re always drooling in your sleep.”
Konoha, who looks the most dumbfounded stares at Akaashi’s neatly made bed, then to Akaashi, then to his bed again. “You’re allowing me to sleep on that?”
Akaashi gives him an offended look. “I wash my sheets every week,”
“That’s not what I mean!” Konoha says, waving his hands. “You just, never let any of us on your bed,” the rest of the group nods. “You never even let Bo there and he’s the closest to you,” Bokuto hums in agreement.
Akaashi can feel his eyes twitching. “I just thought I’d give you the rest you deserve, but if you don’t want to then-”
And before Akaashi could change his mind, Konoha throws himself on the bed, getting comfortable under the sheets. Akaashi’s pillows smell nice. It smells exactly like Akaashi’s shampoo and his sheets smell like those detergents that Konoha just loves, and his comforter is so soft and comfortable.
The younger blinks at the sight of his senior on the bed, already snoring softly and he tries to fight off the smile on his face but it must’ve failed because Sarukui had snorted and said, “You only smile like that when it comes to him, Akaashi.” Akaashi can feel the heat going to his cheeks.
“Whatever,” he says, slipping off his jacket. “Can we just get to studying, please?”
They study mostly in silence, despite Bokuto being in their presence but the latter is too busy trying to crack the code that is his calculus formulas that he can’t seem to come up with any coherent thoughts; only groaning and grunting. Komi and Sarukui were drowning in their physics report and Akaashi’s already picking up his novel that he’s always reading before his bed time.
Konoha’s still snoring softly behind him and he tries to fight every urge to look at his senior. He’s probably not as attractive when he’s asleep. Akaashi’s fidgeting, biting his lips in frustration trying to fight the voices in his head that just keep on going and telling him to turn around and just look at your crush, Keiji. He looks so fucking pretty asleep. Just look at him. C’mon-
Grunting, Akaashi closes the book with too much force and turns to look behind him. A huge mistake. Konoha looks so at peace; his teasing eyes closed, his smirk gone, replaced by a slightly opened mouth and he looks just, so at peace. He really is pretty.
“Hey did you hear, Bokuto?” Sarukui says. Akaashi still has his eyes set on Konoha. “That when you look at someone long enough while they’re sleeping, they’ll wake up and kiss you.”
Akaashi snaps his head to Sarukui then, glaring at him. Bokuto replies loudly, “Really?!” Konoha stirs, only to hug one of Akaashi’s plushies more tightly. “Well, if it’s true then Konoha is probably going to kiss Akaashi some time soon since Akaashi won’t stop ogling.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be studying?” Akaashi deadpans, picking up his book and turning to the page he last opened.
“Oh, we’re done like hours ago. Just wanna see if you’re going to be a man and ask Konoha out.” Komi replies, eyes still scanning the physics report.
Akaashi lets out a sigh. “It’s not that easy.”
“Why won’t it?” Bokuto asks, clearly dumbfounded. “You two are perfect for each other.”
“We can be compatible and he still can choose to not like me,” Akaashi whispers. The three boys’ eyes are on him now, giving him an unimpressed look.
“For someone so smart, you sure are stupid.” Sarukui says, getting up to stretch. “Also, we should leave. I need my beauty sleep.”
Komi nods. “Yeah, Akaashi, wake Konoha up.”
Akaashi blinks. “Why me?”
“You’re his boyfriend soon, get used to it.”
His cheeks are flaming at the word boyfriend but he keeps his face stoic, still, not going to let a little teasing get to him. He’s a mentally strong boy.
“Fine,” he hisses. The door of his room closes and then it’s just him and a pretty, sleeping Konoha on his bed.
He walks towards his bed carefully and crouches down. Poking Konoha’s sides softly, Akaashi lets out a soft, “Konoha-san, the rest are waiting for you to leave.”
Konoha squints his eyes and groans, pulling the comforter over his head. Akaashi lets out a soft smile. “You’re going to miss your train,” Akaashi whispers, pulling the comforter away. He tries to poke Konoha’s cheeks, then pull his ears, and move to his sides and before he can pinch Konoha’s cheeks, the elder takes his wrist.
“I’m up,” he rasps. “Stop poking me like I’m a dead chicken, Akaashi.” Akaashi snorts. Konoha gets up slowly, blinking away the sleep in his eyes. It takes him five minutes to fully wake up and Akaashi can’t stop staring at him. Not when the sight is incredibly endearing. “Thanks for letting me sleep,” Konoha says, voice still heavy with sleep. “I’ll see you Monday,”
And just like that, Konoha leaves, rubbing his eyes and stumbling a bit.
Akaashi smiles to himself. “Cute.”
Akaashi lets out a soft sigh, feeling refreshed after another shower. He puts on his pajamas and throws himself on the bed, letting out a contented sigh. There is nothing better than being on your comfortable bed after a long exhausting day.
He closes his eyes and let himself relax, and then his brows furrow. Akaashi lets out a grunt. There was something that kept poking his back. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he groans. When he finds the thing responsible for his uncomfortableness, he squints his eyes. Konoha’s iPod is there, his earphones still intact. Near it is his school jacket. Akaashi groans again. He picks the items up carefully and puts it on his table then throws himself on the bed again. Except this time, he’s not as content as he was before. Konoha’s iPod is right there. He can listen to what he listens to, he can see if they listen to the same songs, he can maybe make a cheesy playlist as a way to confess to him and make Konoha go, “Ah, Akaashi, you have good taste in music and your tosses are god sent, want to make out?”
Maybe.
But no, Akaashi’s not rude. He does not pry on his senpai’s stuff.
But Akaashi is also one curious bitch.
But no, because curiosity kills the cat.
But then again, Akaashi isn’t a cat.
Akaashi keeps staring at the screen as it lights up, then dim, then lights up again.
Ah fuck it.
Akaashi presses the lock button again and realizes that it’s locked. He is so dumb, because of course it’s locked. Who the hell doesn’t lock their devices?
He tries to open it, firstly using the date of Konoha’s birthday but the device only vibrates. Next, he tries to put in the date when they made it to national’s for the very first time; still no luck.
Akaashi was about to leave the thing on his study table when his stupid brain comes up with a very stupid password. He bites his lips and taps the numbers on the screen slowly.
“Zero, five, one, two,” he whispers to himself.
The device unlocks then and Akaashi’s eyes widen so big he feels like it could split in half.
Konoha’s iPod password is his birthday, what the fuck? The screen then opens up to the Spotify app and his eyes widen even more because when the fuck does Konoha listen to classical music?
Akaashi shuts his eyes and sighs, “It’s probably just to help him sleep,” he whispers to himself. “Classical music bore cool people like him.”
Akaashi bites his lips, contemplating about going further than this. “This can be between just the two of us, right?” he says to his owl plushie the team gifted him for Christmas last year. “No one has to know about this. This is just between the two of us.”
Letting out a breath, Akaashi presses the arrow which leads him to the home section of the app and he lets out a gasp.
Right there, on top, is a playlist labeled “Akaashi” with a tiny heart next to it.
Letting the iPod drop on his chest, Akaashi blinks once. Twice. Three times, before he lets out a shriek and picks up the owl plushie - which also smells a lot like Konoha, damn him - and screams into it.
Bokuto’s the first person to ask him what’s up and Akaashi has replied with a blink and mumbles out a “I’m fine,” before he slams the ball to the other side of the night causing all eyes on him except for Konoha who seems to be lost in the songs in his iPod.
Akaashi, with shaking hands, had returned his stuff that morning and he wanted to punch the relieved smile on Konoha’s handsome face when the younger gave it to him. “I thought I left it on the train or something! Thank God you have them, Akaashi-kun!”
Akaashi wants to punch him so bad. Your smile is beautiful today, he wants to tell him. But he settles with a, you look well rested today, Konoha-san, instead.
Konoha laughs and scratches the back of his neck. “Yeah, I slept well, thanks to you.”
Akaashi blinks. Once. Twice. Three times. “You’ve been resting at your own home all weekend, though.”
“Yeah but I haven’t been able to sleep well.” Konoha snorts, pocketing his iPod in his tracksuit. Then he rolls his earphones in a neat manner. Akaashi might be really turned on at the moment. “But thanks to your comfy bed, I remember how to properly sleep. So yes, you helped, Akaashi.”
He gives Akaashi a soft smile then turns to leave. “Practice is starting soon, you know. Come on quick.”
Akaashi blinks out of his daze and jogs behind him.
Which brings him to where he is right now, in the gym, furious because Konoha is just too perfect; he is unreal. He’s annoying and hot and he’s so good at volleyball and he’s also super smart especially when it comes to chemistry and he has the periodic table memorized and he’s always using it against Akaashi and he can recite the alphabet backwards and he’s so frustrating because he is everything Akaashi likes and he wants to choke Konoha because how dare he. How dare he become the most perfect man in Akaashi’s eyes.
It’s at this moment, Akaashi feels something hard slaps him in the face and he tumbles backward, falling on the ground.
He hears a chorus of “Akaashi!”s but he can’t bring himself to open his eyes. He can’t even feel his face.
“Akaashi, I’m so sorry!” Bokuto’s voice booms. He squints his eyes then and hears a loud smack. Someone probably slapped him on the back.
“You’re being too loud, Bo,”
“But I wanna tell Kaashi I’m sorry!”
“I’m alright,” Akaashi rasps out. He tries to open his eyes and blinks. Once. Twice. Three times, before he gets up to sit. The whole team is surrounding him but Komi has shooed half of them away, and training continues as usual later.
“Are you alright?” Sarukui asks. “Do you know where you are?”
“Hell, since all of you are here,” Akaashi retorts, nursing the pain in his brain. A snort is heard from Komi and Bokuto lets out a loud relieved sigh.
“He’s okay,” Sarukui smiles.
“You could’ve been more careful, Bokuto.” Konoha says, voice full of venom. All eyes are on him then, and Bokuto winces.
“I know, but Akaashi seems lost in space, I thought he was looking at the ball!”
“So you were directing the ball at him?”
“Konoha-san-”
“Of course I was! I knew Akaashi wanted to practice receiving more so I thought I’d directed it to him. Akaashi barely spaces out so I thought he was paying attention!”
Konoha throws Bokuto a glare and rolls his eyes. “That’s a lame excuse,”
Bokuto was about to retort with something before Sarukui cut them both out. “Someone needs to take Akaashi to the nurse’s office. Bokuto why don’t you go so you can explain to the nurse what happen-”
“I’ll go,” Konoha volunteers. “I saw everything too, I’ll tell her what happened.”
The group falls silent again, blinking owlishly at Konoha. “What?” he says and the others shake their heads. Akaashi had no chance to ask anything because Konoha is already helping him get up, putting his hands around Akaashi’s waist and he puts the younger’s hands around his neck. Akaashi feels like exploding.
“Konoha-san, I can walk.”
“I’m not taking any chances,” he laughs. “Let’s just go, you clumsy dork.”
“You memorize the periodic table, it’s ironic that you call me dork when you’re a bigger one,”
Konoha laughs out loud, causing Akaashi to smirk. “You really are okay, huh?”
“I’ve been saying.”
“Do you want to go get ice-cream instead?”
Akaashi turns to look at him then.
Big mistake.
Their faces are inches apart and Akaashi can feel the heat rising to his cheeks. He blinks and turns to look elsewhere instead. “Sure,” he replies. “I’d like ice-cream.”
The walk to the academy’s cafeteria is a short one, but at least Akaashi has his personal space back and he learned that day that convincing Konoha that he was okay had been the toughest thing he had done. They ended up sitting on the bench near the gymnasium where they could hear Bokuto’s third consecutive “hey hey hey”s.
“He’s really excited today,” Konoha says and Akaashi hums.
“He passed his maths exams.”
Konoha nods understandingly, licking his vanilla ice-cream. “How much did you help this time?”
“Not much,” Akaashi shrugs, biting his cone. “He does well on his own, I just helped him memorize the formulas.”
Konoha nods and they fall into a comfortable silence.
“About your iPod,” Akaashi says before he could stop himself to process the words that have come out and Konoha visibly stiffens. “It’s a nice model.” Akaashi wants to smush his face in his ice-cream.
“Oh?” Konoha laughs. “Yeah, I worked all summer to get that.”
Akaashi hums again. “I can’t believe it’s spring already.” he sighs, hugging the jacket Konoha had lent him. “It feels surreal.”
“Did you have something to say about my iPod, Akaashi?”
Akaashi stops putting the cone in his mouth halfway and he stares at Konoha. “I think it’s a wonderful model.”
Konoha nods. “So is it okay if I show you something inside?”
Fuck.
“Sure, Konoha-san,”
Konoha lets out a small smile and takes out the earphones that were in his pocket and plugs it in his iPod. He gives Akaashi the left bud and scoots closer next to him. Akaashi could only hope that he wouldn't hear his beating heart.
The soft notes begin to play and Akaashi recognizes it.
“Pink Sweats, really, Konoha-san?”
Konoha laughs then and shakes his head. “You’re always humming to him in the showers!”
“So you were eavesdropping?”
“It’s hard not to when you sound like an angel, Akaashi.”
“Oh,” Akaashi replies. Oh because how the fuck does he reply to that? “I’m sorry I must’ve been annoying.”
Konoha blinks. “What part of me telling you you sound like an angel is annoying, Keiji-kun?”
Fuck Akaashi wants to punch him so fucking bad.
“You know I made this playlist for you,” Konoha says again after a moment of silence and Akaashi nods.
“I know,” Akaashi sighs. “I didn’t mean to pry and I know that curiosity kills the cat but I have to convince myself so many times that I am not a cat and-”
“Get it over with, Keiji.”
“I snooped into your iPod.”
Konoha blinks at him again, mouth agape, but then he lets out a soft laugh. “I thought you might figure the password out,” he says in between laughs. “You’re a smart boy, you know?”
“May I have the explanation for the reason why your passcode is my birthday and why you have a whole playlist dedicated to me and just me?”
“You’re a smart guy, Keiji,” Konoha says, leaning in to press their foreheads together. “Why don’t you figure it out?”
“I think I will,” Akaashi replies, smiling softly and leans to close the gap between their lips.
And then they kiss, to Akaashi’s favourite song playing in their ears.